by Jessica Dawn

I purchased the MAKE UP FOR EVER Midnight Glow palette on a total whim with Sephora's VIB sale this year. I hadn't seen it in person and haven't heard anything about it (still). It's probably the most unique palette that I own. The packaging is small. It's definitely the smallest palette that I own and with 8 good size shadows. I was kind of put back by this at first, but now it's awesome. Why do we need such huge packaging for all these other palettes? I can't speak to all the shadows yet, but the ones I used in this tutorial are definitely unique. They are not any where near opaque. They're kind of like a glitter nail polish without a base color in it. While this is different, it's not necessarily a bad thing. Actually it's kind of a breathe of fresh air from all the other palettes I have, but it's definitely something to think about how much you'll use it when buying it. For me, my everyday makeup consists of very little to no eye ...

A while back I received a sample of the Stila In The Light Eye Shadow Palette and had meant to try it, but just never got around to it. Well I pulled it out about a week ago and thought I'd do some tutorials with it to decide whether I liked it enough to purchase it. So I did a couple and then my computer decided to hate me and delete pictures on my chip. We still can't figure out what went wrong. It was the strangest thing - it renamed the chip and deleted some, not all, just some. So this is actually my second time around with this tutorial. Good thing I liked this palette! It's actually a pretty good neutral palette. When I went to Ulta to pick it up, one of the workers said it was actually her favorite right now. It also comes with a dark brown eye liner, which I REALLY liked. It's super creamy and reminds me of my favorite Maybelline Unstoppable, but better. If you're looking for a neutral palette, this one is good. I'd still recommend the Lorac Pro fir...

This look is using L'Oreal's Infallible shadow in Smoldering Plum. I had heard these were decent shadows for a drugstore brand and thought I'd pick one up. This was a really nice shimmer plum color and it has great pigmentation. If you haven't noticed by now, I like eye shadow palettes versus single shadows, so I'm not sure I would try another shade. However, if you're looking for a single shadow that's not too expensive, I would recommend this one. It's just a really versatile shadow with great payback. For this look, I combined this shadow with a couple others from the Naked2 palette. Step 1: Apply YDK (from the Naked2 palette) all over the lid. Step 2: Apply L'Oreal Infallible Smoldering Plum precisely in the crease. Start by creating a line where your crease is. Then slowly start blending that up. If the original line gets blurred, go back and create that defined line. Just blend more and more as you work ...

I thought I'd try something a little different. Instead of a tutorial, I'd do just a full face look. There's not much to the eye look, so it'd be pretty simple anyways. I really wanted to have this bright, goldish, fun, kind of shimmery but still natural look. I followed my current foundation routine , and here's what else I used: Face: Urban Decay Baked Bronzer in Gilded to contour and add color. Nars Laguna bronzer to deepen the contour on cheeks. Elf Twinkle Pink Blush. Benefit Watt's Up Highlighter. Lips: Just a touch of Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait with Maybelline Baby Lips Peach Kiss over the top. Eyes: Lorac Pro Lt. Bronze all over top and bottom lid. Added a touch of Gold over top. Cover Girl Flamed Out Shadow Pencil in 340 (light rosy color) on waterline. No liner. L'Oreal Carbon Black mascara.

It's time for another round of monthly favorites, which means the holidays are right around the corner. Can you believe it? I've got a decent amount of products for this months favorites. (Read: I've spent way too much money on beauty products.) I'll just start with a list and then jump right into it. Lorac Pro Eye Shadow Palette Maybelline Baby Lips in Peach Kiss Cover Girl Outlast Nail Polish in Timeless Rubies and Toasted Almond Tree Hut Brazilian Nut Lotion Benefit Rockateur blush Benefit the POREfessional Rimmel London Kate Moss Lipsticks Up first is my absolute favorite eye shadow palette. I like it way better than the Naked palettes. It has a good variety of matte and shimmer shades. The top is all matte and the bottom is shimmer. My favorites in this palette are the Champagne and Pewter colors. I love to use the Champagne all by itself on my lid and inner corner for when I want to do a little something with my eyes, but not much; it's just really prett...

Look at those bright colors! And you thought it was fall... Actually, I got a sample from Sigma back in August and it got tucked away and forgotten about. Oops! It had such bright colors in it that I thought I'd do a fun bright look. And as I was doing this, you know what popped into my head? Whitney's talk about unicorn puke. Yes, unicorn puke. I believe it was in talk about the crazy colorful running shoes they've recently come out with, but that's all I could think about. And really it just made me happy. =) lol. Back to the makeup. The shadows are a-ma-zing. So amazing that I've already ordered them, so you can expect more colorful tutorials. And maybe some not so colorful ones too. If you haven't checked out Sigma yet, they're a local Minnesota company, which of course makes them so much better. =) Just kidding. (Not about the Minnesota part.) They've been known for their brushes for a while and have just recently expanded into makeup, and it...